The pope will visit Kinshasa and Goma, Congo and Juba, South Sudan, joining Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury and the moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

Condemning violence and expressing his concern for and solidarity with Ukraine, Pope Francis has not uttered the word “Russia” publicly.

As Russian troops approached Ukraine’s capital, Pope Francis phoned the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, offering his encouragement and promising, “I will do everything I can” to help.

“That’s one of the reasons why I didn’t go to live in the papal apartment, because the popes before me were saints and I couldn’t do it—I’m not so much a saint,” the pope said on Feb. 6 during a primetime Italian talk show.

As soon as he finished his prayer, Pope Francis told the people in the hall that the man had a problem: “I don’t know if it is physical, psychological or spiritual, but he is our brother with a problem. I would like to finish by praying for him.”

Retired Pope Benedict XVI said he was present at a 1980 meeting to discuss the transfer of a priest accused of misconduct, amending an earlier statement in which he said that he was not in attendance.

While the church’s prayer should not be a battlefield, Archbishop Roche says it is understandable that people are passionate about it.

In his letter to families, like in “Amoris Laetitia,” Pope Francis paid tribute to the strength and tenacity of couples as they face real difficulties together on the journey of life.

“The Word became flesh in order to dialogue with us,” he insisted. “God does not desire to carry on a monologue, but a dialogue. For God himself—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—is dialogue, an eternal and infinite communion of love and life.”

The 75-year-old Canadian Jesuit will replace Cardinal Peter Turkson on an interim basis.